Trends come and go in pop music.
But one thing that hasn’t diminished over the past 100 or so years is the power of a guitarist who can make their instrument sing. If that’s your thing, Joanne Shaw Taylor should be on your radar. Although there’s a good chance she is already.
Taylor — a critically acclaimed blues guitarist, singer and bandleader — will perform Friday, March 24 at San Antonio’s Charline McCombs Empire Theatre.
Though she’s lived in the U.S. for 15 years, much of it in Nashville and Detroit, Taylor spent her formative years in England, where she first discovered the blues. During her 20-plus-year career exploring the art form, she’s emerged as not just a searing guitarist but also a powerful songwriter and vocalist.
The Eurythmics’ Dave Stewart recognized that potential early on, drafting Taylor into his band when she was still a teen. Since then, she’s released her own music as well as collaborating with the likes of Joe Bonamassa and Stewart’s Eurythmics bandmate Annie Lennox.
Now in her late 30s, Taylor has exceeded that early potential, cutting a series of records that place her among the likes of Bonnie Raitt and Susan Tedeschi: powerhouse guitarists who can hold their own in front of a mic. Her most recent album, Nobody’s Fool, dropped in October.
Taylor spoke to the Current from her home in Nashville.
You’ve mentioned Stevie Ray Vaughn and Albert Collins as early influences. It’s interesting that your primary influences are American when your home country boasts blues legends such as Eric Clapton and Peter Green. Would you consider yourself more an American-style player?
My early influences were predominantly American. The Vaughan brothers, Albert Collins, Freddie King, Billy Gibbons. I’m definitely in that school. I love some of the British guys. I love Jeff Beck. I love Paul Kossoff. It took me a while to appreciate that, which is quite funny. I was joking with Joe [Bonamassa] that he was a boy in upstate New York obsessed with the Brits and I was a girl in Britain obsessed with the States.
What separates British blues and American blues? It’s one of those “I know it when I hear it” things, but I struggle to find the words. You’re the expert on this stuff, maybe you can tell me.
I really wish you hadn’t said expert. (Laughs.) For me, I’ve felt a bit more risk in Americans’ playing. The Brits are a bit more polished. Certainly Clapton, Jeff Beck. That’s not to say that’s better. There’s a bit more tenacity — dirt maybe — in Americans’ playing. I like the aggressiveness of Stevie and Albert Collins. That’s the biggest difference for me.
I was listening to Albert Collins earlier today after seeing you mention him. I hate to use the word “sloppy,” because that seems so insulting. Maybe “refined” is the word for the British players.
I kind of agree with you, because “sloppy” does sound bad. It’s looser, I think. I was playing in the classical, disciplined world. And then you see Albert Collins and it’s like, “You shouldn’t be playing guitar like that.” But then you get used to it, and it sounds great. It’s less wooden, a bit more loose. What it’s really about is putting your personality into an instrument.
You pull other styles into your music, but the blues serves as the connective tissue. How do you honor that tradition but also have something new to say?
It’s something you’re very conscious of as a young person. This music form came from a very oppressed group of people. By carrying it forward — and allowing yourself to grow and be the artist that you are and gathering fans — and then talking about the blues guys in interviews. I give them their credit. I think that’s what you can do, to be honest.
You’ve got a sizable catalog of songs to choose from. How do you choose your setlist before a tour, with all this material available?
It’s always helpful to have a new album out, because then you know you have to play X-amount of songs from it. (Laughs.) I kind of do that, then I kind of blend it in with — you said something earlier about, “I’m not really a blues artist but everything I do is blues.” I think I approach it as a blues guitarist. I may not be singing a blues song, but it has a blues feel. I try to balance it with those big guitar solos and songs, then the lighter, sort of poppier stuff. Then create good flow for the evening. It’s helpful that when you have such a big back catalog. There’s songs you’ve played every night for four years. It’s like “I’m done with that one.”
Dave Stewart discovered you as a teenager. You’ve played with Annie Lennox. What’s the most important lesson you learned from working with them?
It sounds silly, but their work ethic. And when I say “work ethic” I don’t just mean how hard they work. I mean the people they surround themselves with. How they treat the people they work with. And, also, just how humble they are. Annie Lennox is one of the most humble people I’ve ever met. If Annie Lennox is shaking hands with everyone at that venue, and thanking everyone at that venue, then I’ve got no excuse not to.
I remember when “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)” hit MTV. Annie Lennox just exuded confidence. Her look is striking even now. In those days, she might as well have been from another planet. And she owned that look.
Dave told me a story once. I think it was the first time they came to America. TSA wouldn’t let Annie in. They looked at her passport and it said “female,” but she looked like a guy. Not to be crude, but she got her boobs out. She certainly has enough balls. (Laughs.) But to see a strong female is always a benefit.
How did Dave Stewart become aware of you? When he first heard you, you were quite young.
Yeah, I was gigging around London and Birmingham at the time, and I was asked to do a charity show. I had done a little demo CD, and a guy there asked for a copy. He was a friend of Dave’s and passed it on to him. And Dave found us the next day.
That’s got to be one of those “pinch me” moments where you don’t believe it’s him calling.
You’re gonna hate me, but I had no idea who he was. I knew who Annie was — once my dad told me. My dad came storming into my bedroom, like, jumping up and down and being all excited. I was like “who?”
Spoken like a former teenage girl: “I am not impressed.”
At the time, the Backstreet Boys were the biggest name. Being unfazed by it was probably a better thing at that age, rather than knowing how good of a deal it was.
$39-$59, 8 p.m. Friday, March 24, Empire Theatre, 226 N. St. Mary’s St., (210) 226-5700, majesticempire.com.
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This article appears in Mar 8-21, 2023.